The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Dentistry (COD) is the only dental school in Chicago, the nation's third largest city. The College is part of the 560-acre Illinois Medical District, which comprises four major medical centers, two universities, and forty other health care, education, and research institutions. In keeping with the University's mission, COD is strongly committed to having faculty members and student participate in scholarly activities; to producing highly qualified dentists, dental educators, and researchers; and to improving the oral and general health of the people of the State of Illinois. The University administration has demonstrated significant commitment to building a top-tier dental institution with a strong research infrastructure through recruitment of research faculty and renovation of research space. The recent appointment of an Associate Dean for Research and the establishment of the Office of Research are further commitments to the enhancement of research infrastructure and resources at the College. While the 2001 NIH funding totaled over $2 million for the College, only one half of these funds were awarded by NIDCR, and the funding profile was limited almost exclusively to investigator-initiated R01s and other R-series grants. The composition of these funds and the College's potential to benefit from new interdisciplinary and collaborative opportunities in research training, mentoring and career development suggest that COD is poised to make further strides toward excellence in research. The UIC College of Dentistry sees in this RFA an extraordinary opportunity to plan a world-class center of excellence in dental and craniofacial research. This proposal has three Specific Aims: 1) To develop and conduct a thorough assessment of the critical needs of the research infrastructure; 2) To identify research focus areas for further infrastructure development (This aim will be achieved with guidance from an Institutional Planning Committee and an External Advisory Committee, using a process based on defined criteria and peer review of scientific merit); and 3) To develop an institutional Infrastructure Improvement Plan for the research locus areas to be enhanced. Plans will be designed to develop a critical mass of researchers in the selected focus areas and to improve the overall research support infrastructure; to strengthen existing and to establish additional interdisciplinary collaborations; and to institutionalize measures for updating the Plan so that it will be comprehensive, strategic, patient-oriented, and self-sustaining. With the systematic infrastructure improvement initiative, and through integration of interdisciplinary research and creation of critical mass, UIC COD will play a leading role in US academic dentistry.